Dozens of youngsters learned how to march and carry a musket on the first day of the Strongsville Historical Society’s Civil War Day Camp July 29.

OK, so the muskets were wooden. But the camp gives children a chance to get up close and personal with life during the Civil War, said the camp’s director and Strongsville Historical Society member Marty Shaw.

“I’m not sure what the curriculum is like in school for the Civil War these days,” said Shaw, a retired Akron City Schools administrator.

Nine-year-old Ian Rescola said the camp, with professional re-enactors who spent the 10:30 a.m. Popsicle break talking to the kids about what historical movies they’ve been in, gives him a more realistic look at the Civil War then he could get from a textbook.

“In school, they don’t really talk about how violent it was,” Ian, of Strongsville, said. “They don’t really talk about all the blood and the lives lost.”

Ian, who is back for his second year this year, said his favorite part of the society’s camp last year was visiting Pomeroy House as a group to learn about the Underground Railroad.

The camp was started in 2011, as part of the statewide effort to commemorate the 150th anniversary of one of the bloodiest wars in the nation’s history. This year’s theme is the Battle of Gettysburg, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of that battle, fought in 1863.

Tristen McCutcheon, 10, has come every year.

“I think it’s a fun activity to do during the summer,” she said.

Tristen said she liked the hands-on learning experience the camp gives in showing how soldiers shot their guns and about the food they ate while traversing the countryside for months at a time.

The camp also exposes children to re-enactors, this year both young and old.

Members of the 29th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a group of adult re-enactors, walked the children through demonstrations, including showing them the weapons and shrapnel found on battlefields.

And this year, Corp. Michael Brody, a 15-year-old re-enactor, brought two of his teenage colleagues with him to talk about how they got into the trade and the etiquette of the mock battlefield.

Shaw said the camp will culminate on Aug. 1, when the children will use the knowledge they gained during the camp to re-enact the Battle of Gettysburg.

For more information about the Strongsville Historical Society, call 440-572-0057.

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